Brian Feulner/The OregonianAbout 200 people and 50 dogs, mostly pit bulls, showed up at the parking lot of a Fred Meyer in Vancouver to protest a proposed ban on the breed in the city.

The Vancouver City Council hedged its talk of a pit bull ban Monday, when a majority of
members said they wanted to discuss smaller changes first.

There has been a flurry of discussion
in the city after several of the dogs attacked a 9-year-old boy near
an Evergreen Boulevard home. The boy was briefly hospitalized, and
the owners of the dogs were cited for having an unlicensed animal.

Instead discussing a range of options
including an outright ban on the breed, the City Council decided Monday it will
consider beefing up its rules on vicious dogs, including adopting a
definition of “potentially dangerous” dogs.

Those dogs – usually those which are
known to bite unprovoked, or to chase people or other pets – are
subject to additional regulations, including proper enclosure and
insurance against injuries inflicted by the dog. Under county code,
they must also be muzzled and leashed when outside their enclosure.

A majority of the council said they
didn't want to consider a breed-specific ban just yet. Councilman
Jack Burkman, who asked the council to limit the scope of its
discussion, said he thought discussing a ban would overly complicate
the issue.

“We draw boundaries around what we
work on one step at a time,” he said. “I believe that we have an
obligation to be as efficient as we can, and I'm just personally not
convinced that throwing this all in at the same time is either
efficient nor a good use of our community's time.”

"This is not normal for this city
council, to make decisions ahead of time before you’ve heard the
facts and both sides of a story,” Harris said. “I'm surprised
that this council would go that way."

She also said the idea for a ban was
one of few issues raised by the community.

The ban was first proposed by a
neighbor of the injured 9-year-old, who sent the council the text of
a Denver ban on pit bulls. Since then, Burkman said, there have been
“a lot of emails flying back and forth.” Harris said hers were
split about 50-50 in support of and opposition to a ban.

Opponents have been particularly
visible, holding a rally in east Vancouver and a downtown pit bull
walk in the last two weeks.